Hollywood Would Be Impressed

As someone who loves to read, I find it extraordinarily amusing when life provides its own perfect symbolism. Case and point: Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL). Sen. Martinez announced his resignation from the senate on Friday. We don't know why. We do know that one of his last acts as senator was to vote in favour of the confirmation of Justice Sotomayor against the majority in his party. Sen. Martinez is a Cuban-American who came to the US in the early 1960's as a child in the wake of the ascension of Fidel Castro and the Communist Party in Cuba. Mr. Martinez is one of many Cuban-Americans who found a natural home in the tough on communism, tough on Cuba Republican party. Cuban-Americans were a reliably Republican voting bloc for Republicans in Florida. In 2008, many younger Cuban-Americans turned to Barack Obama and the Republican ties to the Cuban-American coummnity seemed to weaken. Mr. Martinez since announced that he would not seek re-election in 2010. Friday, after the confirmation of Justice Sotomayor, he resigned. The only (unless I'm forgetting someone) Hispanic Republican Senator resigns as the Republican party seems to give up the fight for the Hispanic vote. Sometimes the truth isn't stranger than fiction, it's better written.